Do you think that there was any real conscious thought when the artist that created Wolverine made him short and menacing? Just think about that for a moment. I'm sure that those of you who have ever drawn or tried to make characters, the height of the character is an important aspect. It's not just a visual thing, but it's part of the personality you want to give a character.

It's a fact. Short people are different from tall people. All the short people I have known have always had a certain characterisitic based on the fact of people teasing them because of their size, and them always having to make that extra effort to get noticed. It's been happening since the beginning of time and will always happen.
All tall people I have met are mostly the same. They all share the fact that they have to look down on MOST people, and others commenting on how tall they are. Their personalities are in stark contrast to short people.

Back to the drawings. If I am creating a character and I make him short, I do so for a reason. I just don't make him short just for the sake of it. Something in my head is saying that this character has to be short because I envision a trait for this kind of character. Taking Wolverine as the example, we see how he has been portrayed in the comics and the cartoon series. He is menacing and always with a short-temper and anger issue. I am sure that the artist working with the writer decided that to best portray this guy's PARTICULAR rage, it has to come from a short guy.
Remember, tall people DO get angry also and are menacing. Sabretooth as an example. But the manner in which he is angry and menacing is in different taste to how Wolverine is angry and menacing.
I tell you this now. Do you think Wolverine would have been as popular as he is now if he was made to look as tall and graceful as Hugh Jackman back in the beginning?

^this

I think the height issue affects ppl differently. For some, it doesn't really matter. And I respect that.

But, for others, like myself, it IS a big deal. And that's because, that's how Wolverine was originally intended to be. For me, it IS part of his character.

Just like truth said, the creators made a conscious decision to make Wolverine short. Now whether it was originally 5'5" or 5'3", the fact is, Wolverine was intentionally created to be shorter than the typical male superhero.

And the reason why I'm particularly passionate about the issue is because I'm Wolverine's height! I'm 5'3" inches myself. Even if by some miracle, at the age of 27, I'm able to grow a bit more, I'm still going to be stuck around this height. So....yeah...I'm a short guy myself. Just like Wolverine.

The ironic thing is, I didn't realize Wolverine was actually my height until X1 came out. To prepare myself for the movie, I started reading about the characters online. I was shocked to learn that Wolverine was actually my height! And then I looked up the actor playing him in X1 and was disappointed to see he was 6'3"! I was like.........wtf!!

And this disappointment continued after seeing X1. I started buying and reading Wolverine comics. And I saw a character in those comics who was supposed to be short....my height.

So....yeah.....maybe it's because I'm short myself that I have this viewpoint on the whole height. Maybe that's why, for me, it is such a big deal.

The only hope that I can have is that after Jackman is done with the role.....at some point in the future they'll probably reboot the whole X-men franchise......and maybe then we can get a shorter actor to play the role.